Don't Take Any Chances With My Grandkids

A Grandmother Speaks Out About H1N1 Vaccines

I awoke this morning to learn about more and more children in local schools down with the H1N1 flu, and fear from deep inside brought me to the keyboard to voice my opinion.

The government is late with the shots and the children continue to contract this flu. I believe the parents, grandparents, and friends of school age children should raise up in arms and fight the government and their mistake.

To protect our children from each other, schools should be closed until the shots are available and they should have a central spot for obtaining the medication. And it should be the parents who choose shot over nasal spray. The newest cases of H1N1 have come with serious and deadly side effects which hit the lungs, and, in some cases, lead to death. The live virus nasal vaccine should not be given to anyone. The virus—when inhaled—goes directly into the lungs. No one knows everything about this medication, nor the side effects, so why test it on children? I want all parents to have the choice.

The doctors who have treated my grandchildren are saying one of my grandsons cannot get the shot, and must have the nasal spray. Are we living in America? What is going on here? Since when does a parent have to accept one thing over another? This same group of doctors refused to see both of my grandsons because they were busy with persons with the flu? And still no shots or sprays? My two grandchildren had high fevers and one with strep throat, and the other with an inner ear infection. They spent four hours in urgent care. No one knows all the symptoms of the flu, and everyone is guessing.

What is wrong here? Why can’t parents join together, push the school ahead into the summer months, and keep the children home until the shots are available? This will protect children, their siblings, parents, teachers, and the community in general.

What is wrong here? Why are parents being told what their children should and should not have? Why has the government failed when it comes to our children and their health?

What is wrong here? Family doctors, those who have seen children since birth, turn away sick children because of the flu? But no one is reporting that, so many children in this doctors office have the flu?

Something has to be said now, not tomorrow. Please help with your voice: contact your schools, doctors, and get together and make this more like America—not some foreign country.